Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 5 (22 page)

Kaiser sat next to her and
asked, "what do you want to know?"

"About the drug Rage?"
Aradia clarified, "Every damn thing!"

"I don't know that much
about it," Kaiser stated bluntly. "Except it's a relatively new
drug being manufactured by the thousands. It's dirt-cheap and can
be used anyway possible. Nobody knows the contents or recipe but
judging by the way it makes people high I don't think anyone really
cares."

"Do you know whose making
it?" Aradia asked.

Kaiser shook his head. "Only
whoever is making them has got some serious scratch. There's no way
to make that amount of drug in so short of time without having some
serious cash to spread around."

"So whoever is making Rage
is rich?"

Kaiser just shrugged. "I
don't know. What I do know is this stuff is being imported from out
of the country."

"So it's completely
untraceable," Aradia said with a grim expression.

Kaiser exhaled a breath
through his nose. "Not necessarily."

"Hmm?" Aradia
inquired.

Kaiser stood up and raked
his fingers through his hair. It looked like he was deep thought.
After a few moments, he turned to face her. "Give me a few days and
I might have some more info."

"What are you going to do?"
Aradia couldn't help but ask.

He shrugged. "I have some
leads to check out. I might be able to find out more info about
Rage for you but I will need at least a week."

After agreeing to a future
meeting spot and time Aradia left Kaiser's apartment. She didn't
realize until after she left the building that night had already
fallen.
Oh crap
,
she thought,
I am out here alone with no
money and with my power practically at zero level.

In other words, she was
completely vulnerable and helpless. As she walked out of the
building she stuck to the lighted streets as best as she could.
Avoiding eye contact as best as she could and with fear coursing
through her veins. Homeless people, men smoking, and women wearing
too much make-up leered at her and made suggestive comments. It was
all she could do from breaking out into a run. Instead she tried to
control her fear and kept walking down the street. Never realizing
that if she was too busy looking at the ground she couldn't see
where she was going.

Therefore, it wasn't really
surprising that a swirl of grayish black smoke came out of nowhere
and was able to pin her against a wall.
Vampire!
Aradia
realized and extremely frightened.

"You smell so good," he
crooned as he licked Aradia's neck, "I wonder if you taste the
same."

He giggled before extending
his fangs. "Only one way to find out I guess."

Aradia struggled as best as
she could but without her powers she was helpless.
Unless...

She quickly brought her leg
up and kicked him in the groin. As he doubled up, Aradia used her
purse to hit him in the face. She dashed into the building as quick
as she could. The vampire tried to follow but since he hadn't been
invited in he couldn't budge past the door. Aradia went straight to
the elevator and pressed the nearest button. The vampire growled as
soon as the doors closed. However, after hearing the ping and
seeing the floor buttons above the elevator light up he
smirked.

Aradia breathed heavily and
pressed herself against the back of the elevator. She glanced at
the button she pushed. Her heart sank a little when she realized it
was the top floor.
May be a blessing in
disguise
, she realized,
once I reach the top floor I can call Saul and ask him to come
get me.
Although she shuddered to think how
angry he would be.

Regardless, the moment the
elevator stopped Aradia flipped open her phone. Her heart sank once
she realized the top floor was nothing more than an outdoor pool. A
creepy one covered with a huge tarp and completely bare with no
pool furniture at all.

I guess it wouldn't do for
there to be a winter storm and have chairs blown off the
building!
Aradia mused. She chuckled as she
left the elevator. She walked a few feet outside before dialing
Saul's number. She spun in a semi-circle as she waited for him to
pick up. Her back was to the edge of the building so she didn't see
a white hand with long claws grip the edge.

After a while of hearing
nothing but busy signals Saul finally answered. "Hello?"

"Saul I...ohhhh!"

Aradia's phone was yanked
out of her hand and crushed in front of her face.
I am not really having that much luck with phones
am I?

The vampire didn't seem to
notice her chagrin. He was too busy licking his chops. "How
considerate of you to help me to work up an appetite."

Aradia tried to run from him
but he reached out and grabbed her arm. He then pulled her into an
iron embrace with an arm over her stomach and a hand in her
hair.

"Please," Aradia tried to
beg, "don't eat me. I don't want to die!"

The vampire just shrugged
casually. "Everybody has to die sometime sweetie, you might as well
die now."

He extended his fangs one
more time and Aradia clenched her eyes. His fangs had barely grazed
her neck before he froze. Aradia wondered what was going on.
Suddenly some unseen force seized the vampire and hoisted him up
into the air. Aradia fell to the ground and turned around to see
what it was. Her eyes grew as big as dinner plates and her mouth
fell open.

It was a huge creature
standing on two legs with grayish stone skin and huge black bat
wings protruding from its wings. It had a huge grey lips with fangs
sticking out from the bottom and the top. It had a flat bat snout,
bat ears, and it's eyes glowed bright yellow as its huge clawed
hands seized the vampire in its arms. As the vampire squeaked and
squirmed the creature opened its mouth and a long forked tongue
emerged. Without any further hesitation the creature sunk its mouth
full of teeth onto the neck of the vampire.

Aradia screamed and hastily
got to her feet. She kept her eyes on the creature as she backed
away but was too frightened to realize she was nearing the edge of
the building. She finally did but only when she tripped on the
cracked remains of her phone and fell sideways. In a feeble attempt
to save herself she reached out to grab the stone wall but her
fingers missed by a mere inch.

"Help me!!!" Aradia
screeched as she began to plummet towards the ground.

The creature heard her cry
and thrust the withering vampire away. He got to the edge and
looked down at the falling Aradia. After one moment of hesitation,
the creature stood on the wall with it's big clawed feet and dove
off. It extended its large wings and sped towards Aradia who was
still screaming and clawing at the air. The creature then reached
out its long arms and seized Aradia. At this point Aradia had
stopped screaming. She just stared wide eyed at the creature as it
began to glide along the night wind. It then soared up towards the
edge of another building until they finally reached the roof. The
moment they did, the creature set Aradia on its feet. Aradia
immediately stepped back and saw the creature in full frontal view.
It wore a thick brown leather loin cloth around it's waist but that
was all it wore. It wore no shoes, no jacket, or anything in spite
of it being very windy. The creature had no hair whatsoever not
even on its chest. Aradia just stared at the creature towering over
her.

"Who are you?" the creature
finally asked, "What were you doing on that rooftop? And why was
that vampire after you?"

Aradia just stared at him.
When she finally managed to say something it sounded more like an
realization than anything else. "You can talk?!"

The creature rolled its eyes
where were no longer glowing. "Yes I can talk. I can also speak
five other different languages, do math calculations in my head,
and recite all fifty states and capitals in the United
States."

Aradia was impressed but she
still couldn't stop herself from asking,"what are you?""

The creature's chest rose
and fell before he spoke. "I am a gargoyle."

"Wait what?" Aradia said,
"you are a what?"

"I am a gargoyle," the
creature repeated, "otherwise known as a stone devil or a vampire
reject."

"A what?"

The gargoyle sighed. "A
vampire reject meaning a creature that was meant to turn into a
vampire and yet was not able to complete the
transformation."

Aradia was intrigued. "Why
were you not able to complete the transformation?"

"It takes three nights to
become a vampire. Three nights of draining the blood of your victim
until they seem near death. Only one night until after they are
buried do they finally become vampires."

"However," he added sounding
spiteful, "if the vampire fails to drain the victim in three nights
by the second or the first night the mutation starts."

"Mutation?" Aradia
repeated.

"Yes the transformation of
turning from human into...something else. Vampires are part bat and
unless the human and bat DNA properly crosses over to your own body
you cannot complete the transformation. The bat DNA takes over
completely and mutates your body into a half man half bat
form."

"Hence the wings
and...stuff," Aradia said as she pointed them out.

The gargoyle simply nodded.
"But enough about me why were you on that rooftop and why did that
vampire attack you?"

Aradia shrugged. "I think
it's kind of obvious why."

The gargoyle just folded his
arms and stared at her.

Aradia sighed before stating
bluntly, "he was trying to eat me."

"Why?"

"Because he is a vampire,"
Aradia practically spat, "and that's what vampires do."

The gargoyle seemed
satisfied with her explanation. He then turned to leave but Aradia
caught him by the arm. "Wait!"

"What?"

"I just wanted..." Aradia
began, "I just wanted to thank you for saving my life."

The gargoyle
stiffened.

After a few minutes he
muttered under his breath, "your welcome."

He stood by the edge of the
building and spread his wings.

"Wait!" Aradia cried out
again.

"What now?" He almost
snapped.

"When can I see you
again?"

The gargoyle spun around
with his grotesque face twisted into an expression of surprise.
"What?"

Aradia shrugged. "When can I
see you again?"

The gargoyle still looked
confused. "Why would you want to?"

Aradia groped for an
acceptable answer. "You saved my life the least I could do is get
to know you better."

The gargoyle stood and
stared at her in utter confusion. Aradia swallowed hard as she
awaited his answer.

Finally he sighed and said,
"tomorrow night at this spot you can come see me. I will be
here."

"After dark?" Aradia
clarified.

The gargoyle
nodded.

Once again he turned to
leave but Aradia couldn't help but ask one more question. "What's
your name?"

The gargoyle didn't turn
this time. He just muttered, "Agrippa. My name is
Agrippa."

After that he just dived off
and soared through the sky and out of Aradia's sight.

"How goes the attempts to
win the witch over to our side?" Morgan asked.

Before Saul had left the
Sovereign's castle a year ago, Morgan had given him a special
mahogany box. If Morgan was to open the box all she would have to
do is read the spell engraved on its side, speak the name of the
person she wished to contact, and open it. If the person had a
similar box then they could speak to one another. This was how Saul
had been reporting his progress so far. Before he would have just
called them on his cell phone but with Aradia living with him he
couldn't take that risk. If she were to look at his phone and press
re-dial then everything would be ruined!

Saul shook his head
banishing such thoughts. He was sitting in his hotel room, and had
been making frantic phone calls since Aradia had disappeared. Of
course this would be the time that Morgan would choose to contact
him and ask for a progress report.

Saul shuffled his feet and
stared at the ground. "Pretty well I would say."

"Oh? Then I guess you
wouldn't mind if I talk to her do you?"

Saul stiffened.
"Uh...well...you see..."

"You lost her didn't
you?"

Saul averted Morgan's
scalding gaze.

"The Sovereign will not be
pleased," was all she said.